List of current mixed martial arts champions

A mixed martial artist and his championship belt

Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a form of competitive combat sport, akin to boxing, muay thai, or kick boxing. MMA titles, or championship belts, are given to those fighters deemed by a promotional organization to have met a certain standard of athletic accomplishment in a specific weight class (most often by means of a championship fight). Championship belts are fought for at each weight class under a promotion, with only one belt awarded per class. Each belt is usually contested every time the belt holder fights, and passed to the victor of that fight (see the List of UFC champions for a chronology of UFC title belts). A belt may be vacated when a fighter leaves a promotion, or is suspended. At such times an interim champion may be crowned, or the belt may be awarded to the winner of a fight between top contenders.

This list displays all title holders for the major, certified MMA promoting and sanctioning bodies. There is no clear industry definition within the MMA community to determine which organizations are considered major promoting bodies.^[1] Due to a lack of clear guidelines, this list is limited to those organizations that are either highly regarded (such as the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and Strikeforce), long standing (such as King of the Cage (KOTC) and Pancrase), or the dominant organizations of a country or region of the world (such as England's Ultimate Challenge MMA (UCMMA) and Canada's Maximum Fighting Championship (MFC)).

Because there is no international unified MMA weight class system in use,^[2] the Nevada State Athletic Commission's (NSAC) weight classes have been adopted for this article as they are most common across major promotions. Some organizations have created titles in weight classes outside the NSAC guidelines. Those titles have been and will be recognized as subdivisions under their common weight class.^[3]

Though unofficial, Fight Matrix consideres the first MMA lineal champions as follows:^[4]

• Heavyweight - Ken Shamrock beginning October 14, 1993 at Pancrase: Yes, We Are Hybrid Wrestlers 2
• Light heavyweight - Frank Shamrock beginning December 21, 1997 at UFC Japan: Ultimate Japan.
• Middleweight - Kenji Kawaguchi beginning May 18, 1989 at Shooto - Shooto.
• Welterweight - Yasuto Sekishima beginning January 13, 1990 at Shooto - Shooto.
• Lightweight - Yuichi Watanabe beginning January 13, 1990 at Shooto - Shooto.
• Featherweight - Noboru Asahi beginning March 27, 1992 at Shooto - Shooto.
• Bantamweight - Kazuhiro Sakamoto beginning October 19, 1989 at Shooto - Shooto.
• Flyweight - Kenji Ogusu beginning March 27, 1992 at Shooto - Shooto.

Although the inaugural lineal champions are sometimes contested, especially at heavyweight; the consensus view, is that all the lineal titles have been unified with their respective weight class UFC titles, except for the lineal lightweight title which is currently (April 6, 2015), held by UFC fighter Donald Cerrone.

Organizations are listed by a combination of their size (number of fighters, events per year, etc.) and their history (years in existence, title lineage, etc.). Title holders from other organizations, who are now fighting in the UFC, are not included in this list as the UFC does not cross promote and these belts are often vacated.^[5]

Men

Super Heavyweight (over 265 lb, 120 kg)

Name		Organization	Date	No. of title defenses
American	Tony Lopez	KOTC	Sep 17, 2011	1

Heavyweight (265 lb, 120 kg)

Name		Organization	Date	No. of title defenses
Brazilian	Fabrício Werdum	UFC	June 13, 2015	0
Russian	Vitaly Minakov	Bellator	November 15, 2013[6]	1
Bulgarian	Blagoy Ivanov	WSOF	June 5, 2015	1
American	Brandon Vera	One	December 11, 2015	0
American	Cody East	Legacy FC	October 17, 2014	1
Polish	Marcin Tybura (over 205 lb, 93 kg)	M-1 Global	August 15, 2014	1
Indian	Singh Jaideep (Megatonweight: over 205 lb, 93 kg)	Deep	October 17, 2015	0
American	Tony Lopez	KOTC	September 25, 2015	0
N/A	Vacant	CWFC	N/A	N/A
N/A	Vacant	UCMMA	N/A	N/A
Polish	Karol Bedorf	KSW	September 28, 2013[7]	1
Brazilian	William Baldutti	Jungle Fight	November 2, 2013	1
English	Oli Thompson	IGF	December 31, 2015	0

Cruiserweight (220 lb, 100 kg)

Name		Organization	Date	No. of title defenses
American	Wes Combs (230 lb, 104 kg)	KOTC	July 23, 2011	1
Brazilian	Bruno Cappelozza	Jungle Fight	October 24, 2015	0

Light Heavyweight (205 lb, 93 kg)

Name		Organization	Date	No. of title defenses
American	Daniel Cormier	UFC	May 23, 2015	1
English	Liam McGeary	Bellator	February 27, 2015	1
American	David Branch	WSOF	September 18, 2015	0
Brazilian	Roger Gracie (225 lb, 102 kg)	One	May 6, 2016	0
Brazilian	Vinny Magalhães	Titan FC	September 26, 2014	0
Brazilian	Leonardo Leite	Legacy FC	September 26, 2014[8]	0
Russian	Viktor Nemkov	M-1 Global	December 4, 2015	0
Japanese	Yoshiyuki Nakanishi	Deep	April 17, 2010[9]	3
South African	Trevor Prangley	KOTC	December 20, 2012[10]	6
N/A	Vacant	Pancrase	N/A	N/A
N/A	Vacant	CWFC	N/A	N/A
N/A	Vacant	MFC	N/A	N/A
Dutch	Jason Jones	BAMMA	September 14, 2013	0
English	Nick Chapman	UCMMA	May 2, 2015	0
Croat	Goran Reljić	KSW	May 23, 2015	0
Brazilian	Dirlei Broenstrup	Jungle Fight	November 29, 2014	2

Middleweight (185 lb, 84 kg)

Name		Organization	Date	No. of title defenses
American	Luke Rockhold	UFC	December 12, 2015	0
Brazilian	Rafael Carvalho	Bellator	October 23, 2015	0
American	David Branch	WSOF	June 21, 2014	2
Russian	Vitaly Bigdash (205 lb, 93 kg)	One	October 9, 2015	0
American	Andrew Sanchez	RFA	August 7, 2015	0
Brazilian	Leonardo Leite	Legacy FC	February 28, 2015[11]	0
Russian	Ramazan Emeev	M-1 Global	April 10, 2015	0
Afghan	Siyar Bahadurzada (Light Heavyweight: 185 lb, 84 kg)	Shooto	July 15, 2007	2
South Korean	Young Choi	Deep	October 11, 2015	0
American	Daniel Madrid	KOTC	October 17, 2015	0
N/A	Vacant	Pancrase	N/A	N/A
Norwegian	Jack Hermansson	CWFC	June 7, 2014	1
N/A	Vacant	MFC	N/A	N/A
N/A	Vacant	BAMMA	N/A	N/A
Czech	Karlos Vemola	UCMMA	August 3, 2013	0
Polish	Michał Materla	KSW	May 12, 2012[12]	4
Brazilian	Andre Lobato	Jungle Fight	August 22, 2015	0
American	David Mitchell	TPF	February 15, 2015	0
Polish	Marcin Naruszczka	RFC	April 13, 2013	0
South Korean	Jung Hwan Cha	Road FC	January 31, 2016	0

Welterweight (170 lb, 77 kg)

Name		Organization	Date	No. of title defenses
American	Robbie Lawler	UFC	December 6, 2014	2
Russian	Andrey Koreshkov	Bellator	July 17, 2015	1
American	Jon Fitch	WSOF	April 2, 2016	0
American	Ben Askren (185 lb, 84 kg)	One	August 29, 2014	1
Serbian	Bojan Velickovic	RFA	January 15, 2016	0
American	Derrick Krantz	Legacy FC	July 17, 2015	0
Russian	Murad Abdulaev	M-1 Global	June 6, 2015	0
Brazilian	Hernani Perpetuo (Middleweight: 170 lb, 77 kg)	Shooto	August 25, 2013	0
Japanese	Yuta Watanabe	Deep	April 29, 2014	2
American	Joshua Aveles	KOTC	February 22, 2014	0
Japanese	Akihiro Murayama	Pancrase	March 13, 2016	0
Denmark	Nicolas Dalby	CWFC	March 22, 2014	0
N/A	Vacant	MFC	N/A	N/A
American	Eddy Ellis	BAMMA	September 14, 2013	0
English	Bill Beaumont	UCMMA	February 7, 2015	0
Polish	Borys Mankowski	KSW	May 17, 2014	1
Brazilian	Handesson Ferreira	Jungle Fight	December 5, 2015	0

Junior Welterweight (160 lb, 73 kg)

Name		Organization	Date	No. of title defenses
American	Alex Reyes	KOTC	March 15, 2015	1

Lightweight (155 lb, 70 kg)

Name		Organization	Date	No. of title defenses
Brazilian	Rafael dos Anjos	UFC	March 14, 2015	1
American	Will Brooks	Bellator	November 15, 2014 [13]	2
American	Justin Gaethje	WSOF	January 18, 2014	4
Japanese	Shinya Aoki (170 lb, 77 kg)	One	April 5, 2013	2
Brazilian	Thiago Moises	RFA	February 19, 2016	0
American	Mike Bronzoulis	Legacy FC	May 8, 2015	0
French	Mansour Barnaoui	M-1 Global	May 2, 2015	0
N/A	Vacant (Welterweight: 155 lb, 70 kg)	Shooto	N/A	N/A
Japanese	Keita Nakamura	Deep	July 20, 2015	0
American	Alex Reyes	KOTC	December 4, 2014	2
Japanese	Kazuki Tokudome	Pancrase	November 1, 2015	0
N/A	Vacant	CWFC	N/A	N/A
Tunisian	Mansour Barnaoui	BAMMA	September 14, 2013	1
Ukrainian	Maksym Matus	UCMMA	May 3, 2014	1
N/A	Vacant	KSW	N/A	N/A
Brazilian	Erick Barbosa	Jungle Fight	October 24, 2015	0
South Korean	A Sol Kwon	Road FC	August 17, 2014	1

Featherweight (145 lb, 66 kg)

Name		Organization	Date	No. of title defenses
Irish	Conor McGregor	UFC	December 12, 2015	0
American	Daniel Mason-Straus	Bellator	November 6, 2015	0
Brazilian	Alexandre de Almeida	WSOF	December 18, 2015	0
Russian	Marat Gafurov (155 lb, 70 kg)	One	November 21, 2015	0
Brazilian	Raoni Barcelos	RFA	August 22, 2015[14]	0
Georgian	Levan Makashvili	CFFC	December 12, 2014	0
Slovak	Ivan Buchinger	M-1 Global	October 17, 2014	0
N/A	Vacant (Lightweight: 145 lb, 66 kg)	Shooto	N/A	N/A
Japanese	Kazunori Yokota	Deep	February 18, 2012[15]	1
American	Jordan Griffin (Bantamweight: 145 lb, 66 kg)	KOTC	August 8, 2015	1
American	Andy Main	Pancrase	October 4, 2015	1
N/A	Vacant	CWFC	N/A	N/A
French	Tom DuQuesnoy	BAMMA	April 5, 2014	1 (No Contest)
English	Ashleigh Grimshaw	UCMMA	May 26, 2012[16]	1
Brazilian	Otto Rodrigues	Jungle Fight	July 4, 2015	1
South Korean	Mu Gyeom Choi	Road FC	February 9, 2014	2

Bantamweight (135 lb, 61 kg)

Name		Organization	Date	No. of title defenses
American	Dominick Cruz	UFC	January 17, 2016	0
Brazilian	Marcos Galvão	Bellator	March 27, 2015[17]	0
Brazilian	Marlon Moraes	WSOF	March 29, 2014	2
Brazilian	Bibiano Fernandes (145 lb, 66 kg)	One	October 18, 2013[18]	4
American	Luke Sanders	RFA	November 7, 2014[19]	1
N/A	Vacant (Featherweight: 135 lb, 61 kg)	Shooto	N/A	N/A
Japanese	Takafumi Otsuka	Deep	April 29, 2014	2
American	Randy Steinke (Flyweight: 135 lb, 61 kg)	KOTC	August 2014	0
Japanese	Shintaro Ishiwatari	Pancrase	December 3, 2011[20]	4
N/A	Vacant	CWFC	N/A	N/A
Brazilian	Luiz Henrique Tosta	UCMMA	February 7, 2015	1
Brazilian	Maike Linhares	Jungle Fight	September 12, 2015	0
South Korean	Yoon Jun Lee	Road FC	December 14, 2014	1

Flyweight (125 lb, 57 kg)

Name		Organization	Date	No. of title defenses
American	Demetrious Johnson	UFC	September 22, 2012[21]	8
Russian	Magomed Bibulatov	WSOF	October 17, 2015	0
Kazakhstani	Kairat Akhmetov (135 lb, 61 kg)	One	November 21, 2015	0
Brazilian	Alexandre Pantoja	RFA	September 12, 2014	1
American	Damacio Page	Legacy FC	October 17, 2014	1
Brazilian	Bruno Azevedo	XFC	March 14, 2015	0
American	Louis Gaudinot	CFFC	September 12, 2015	0
Japanese	Hiromasa Ogikubo (Bantamweight: 125 lb, 57 kg)	Shooto	April 23, 2016[22]	0
Japanese	Yuki Motoya	Deep	August 23, 2014	0
Japanese	Kiyotaka Shimizu (Super Flyweight: 125 lb, 57 kg)	Pancrase	February 7, 2010[23]	6
American	John DeVall (Jr. Flyweight: 125 lb, 57 kg)	KOTC	August 1, 2015	0
German	Rany Saadeh	BAMMA	August 2, 2014	0
English	Giorgio Andrews	UCMMA	August 18, 2012[24]	0
Brazilian	Bruno Menezes	Jungle Fight	May 9, 2015	1
South Korean	Min Jong Song	Road FC	October 9, 2015	0

Junior Flyweight (120 lb, 54 kg)

Name		Organization	Date	No. of title defenses
Japanese	Kent Kambe (Flyweight: 120 lb, 54 kg)	Pancrase	December 13, 2015	0

Strawweight (115 lb, 52 kg)

Name		Organization	Date	No. of title defenses
Thai	Dejdamrong Sor Amnuaysirichoke (125 lb, 57 kg)	One	May 22, 2015	1
Japanese	Mitsuhisa Sunabe (Light Flyweight: 115 lb, 52 kg)	Pancrase	November 1, 2015	0
Japanese	Yoshitaka Naito (Flyweight: 115 lb, 52 kg)	Shooto	September 27, 2014	2

Women

Women athletes are generally smaller than, and compete at lower weights than their male counterparts.^[25]

Featherweight (145 lb, 66 kg)

Name		Organization	Date	No. of title defenses
Brazilian	Cristiane Justino	Invicta FC	July 13, 2013[26]	3

Bantamweight (135 lb, 61 kg)

Name		Organization	Date	No. of title defenses
American	Miesha Tate	UFC	March 5, 2016	0
American	Tonya Evinger	Invicta FC	July 9, 2015	0
South Korean	Ji Yeon Kim	Deep Jewels	August 29, 2015	0
Japanese	Rin Nakai	Pancrase	December 1, 2012	0
Brazilian	Amanda Lemos	Jungle Fight	October 24, 2015	0
American	Shanna Young (Flyweight: 135 lb, 61 kg)	KOTC	November 21, 2015	0

Flyweight (125 lb, 57 kg)

Name		Organization	Date	No. of title defenses
American	Barb Honchak	Invicta FC	April 5, 2013[27]	2
American	Brenda Gonzales (Jr. Flyweight: 125 lb, 57 kg)	KOTC	October 6, 2012[28]	1

Strawweight (115 lb, 52 kg)

Name		Organization	Date	No. of title defenses
Polish	Joanna Jędrzejczyk	UFC	March 14, 2015	2
Brazil	Livia Renata Souza	Invicta FC	April 24, 2015	1
Japanese	Mizuki Inoue	Deep Jewels	August 9, 2014	1
Brazilian	Polyana Viana	Jungle Fight	November 28, 2015	0
American	Jamie Colleen	KOTC	August 29, 2015	0

Atomweight (105 lb, 48 kg)

Name		Organization	Date	No. of title defenses
Japanese	Ayaka Hamasaki	Invicta FC	July 9, 2015	1
N/A	Vacant	Deep Jewels	N/A	N/A
Singaporean	Angela Lee (115 lb, 52 kg)	One	May 6, 2016	0
American	Andy Nguyen	KOTC	April 9, 2016	0

See also

• List of current boxing champions

References

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2. Robert Rousseau. "MMA Doesn't Need 14 Weight Classes". SubmitToMMA.com. Retrieved February 24, 2011.
3. Michael David Smith (June 7, 2010). "Frank Mir Moving Down? Maybe MMA Needs Cruiserweight Division". AOL Inc.
4. "Fight Matrix - Lineal Championship Histories". fightmatrix.com.
5. Sammy Perez (November 8, 2010). ""Slammin' Sammy" on MMA Cross Promotion & Risks!". ringtalk.com.
6. Samson szymson (December 1, 2013). "Bellator 108 results: ‘Rampage’ knocks out Beltran, Minakov takes title from Volkov". MMAJunkie.com.
7. Samson szymson. "KSW 24 results". mmafighting.com. Retrieved December 1, 2013.
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9. EKP (April 17, 2010). "Deep 47 Impact Results". headkicklegend.com.
10. Joe Ortiz (December 21, 2012). "Veteran Trevor Prangley Tech Decisions Tony Lopez for KOTC Gold at ‘Vigilante’". Sherdog.com.
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13. Eddie Alvarez signs UFC, the interim champion Will Brooks is the linear champion.
14. staffn (August 22, 2015). "Raoni Barcelos claims belt at RFA 29". MMAJunkie.com.
15. Toni Loiseleur & Taro Irei (February 18, 2012). "Lightweight King Mizuto Hirota Defends Crown Against Seiichi Ikemoto at Deep 57". Sherdog.com.
16. Tapology.com Staff. "UCMMA 28". Tapology.com. Retrieved May 26, 2012.
17. MMAJunkie.com Staff (March 27, 2015). "Bellator 135 video highlights: Galvao takes belt, Davis and Tokoro put on classic". MMAJunkie.com.
18. Luke Thomas (October 18, 2013). "One FC 11 results: Shinya Aoki successful in featherweight debut, Bibiano Fernandes retains title". MMAFighting.com.
19. Ken Pishna (November 7, 2014). "RFA 20 RESULTS: LUKE SANDERS WINS TITLE, TELLS UFC HE’S READY". MMAJunkie.com.
20. "Sunabe and Ishiwatari Crowned at Pancrase Impressive Tour Final". Sherdog.com. 2011-12-03.
21. Geno Mrosko (September 22, 2012). "UFC 152 results: Mohamed Hassan wins flyweight title with split decision victory over Joseph Benavidez". MMAMania.com.
22. http://www.sherdog.com/news/news/Hiromasa-Ogikubo-Koshi-Matsumoto-Take-Shooto-World-Titles-at-FinishFilled-Fight-Mosh-103813
23. Brian Knapp (February 8, 2010). "Weekend Rundown: Injured Junie Folds at Wild Bill's". Sherdog.com.
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25. Hyde & Gengenbach. "Anatomical and Physiological Considerations when comparing Male and Female Athletes". San Diego Center for Health. Retrieved July 26, 2011.
26. Dave Meltzer (July 14, 2013). "Invicta FC 6 results: Cris Cyborg captures first Invicta featherweight title". MMAfighting.com.
27. Dave Doyle (April 6, 2013). "Invicta FC 5 results". MMAFighting.com.
28. KOTC.com Staff. "KOTC Stranglehold Results". KOTC.com. Retrieved December 2, 2012.